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Anandiben in the shadow of Modi

After the crest, a stoic calm. That is Gujarat after Narendra Modi. Replacing
a banyan tree of a chief minister-the longest serving in the history of
the state-is the most difficult of tasks. Though Anandiben Patel who moved in
to fill the void is a very predictable choice since she and
party general secretary, Amit Shah enjoyed Modi’s confidence, her
rise to become the first woman chief minister of Gujarat provides a keen
insight into the present Indian prime minister’s political planning.

A man
known to leave little leadership space for either aide or opponent, Modi
ensured that both his aides-Anandiben and Amit-ever at loggerheads
,and he made sure that they remained that way, operated in distinct spheres
designed to fulfill his goals. If Shah was the head of his dirty tricks
department as minister of state for home before the fake encounters felled him,
Anandiben was a trusted sheet anchor shoring up ‘manna’ raining ministeries
like Revenue and PWD. As Modi got busy pursuing the prime ministerial
campaign, it was a core team of ministers who took charge of the state
administration. The team comprised of the official number two in the
state government Nitin Patel, Saurabh Patel, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and
Anandiben Patel. But there was never an iota of doubt that it was Anandiben who
called the shots though the final decision was always Modi’s. He
apportioned territory in a manner that Anandiben had a homerun to
consolidate and Amit an alien land to annex. Under his watchful eyes, while she
tightened her grip over the levers of power at home, Amit, moved to deliver
Uttar Pradesh. And he did it with lethal effect. In one fell swipe, he ripped
apart the jat-muslim unity forged by Chaudhary Charan Singh in western UP and
cleaved Mayawati and Mulayam Singh of their caste configurations to present the
politically vital north Indian state to Modi on a platter. Amit’s success
has ensured an enhanced national role for him in UP and Bihar and by the same
reckoning ,a free run for Anandiben in Gujarat. That’s quintessential
Modi.

Gujarat
has Modi written all over it. And it was this that he encashed to enthrall
India. Thus it will be an uphill task for the new chief minister to come out of
his all encompassing shadow. Over a month into helmsmanship, there is no
indication that she wants to either. For the moment she is happy following in
his footsteps. She has launched a mobile application for farmers, inaugurated
the krishi mahotsav and the

However
the combative tenor of an aggressively anti-Centre stance that Modi used as the
champion chief minister of a UPA victimized Gujarat to build himself up as a
credible alternative will sadly be denied to his chosen predecessor. This is
because Modi today occupies the very chair that he targeted when he was
the chief minister. His ministers from Gujarat who railed and thundered
in press releases and media conferences now whimper and entreat. The state
opposed GST, now pleads for a just share. It was long time associate and now
political rival Shankersinh Vaghela, leader of the Congress opposition in the
Gujarat Vidhan Sabha who confronted Modi with his own list of desires and
demands made on the UPA.”Time to undo all the injustices that you said
were done by the previous government. The gates on the Sardar
Sarovar Narmada dam should be installed in a jiffy and the canal network for
the parched areas should follow soon.

Gujarat should get coal from the
western coalfields instead of the eastern ones .Nothing should stop
the Rammandir construction, the pink revolution on export of cow flesh
should be brought to a halt with death for the offenders. Kashmiri
pundits should be back in Kashmir and Pakistan and China
ejected from Indian territory and don Dawood made
to pay for terrorist sins”.

Denied
the luxury of verbose half-truths in the prime ministerial hot seat, Modi
is now turning sagaciously sedate. The man who pre-poll charged the
Nehru-Gandhi dynasty with denying Sardar Patel a place in history, post-poll
says” many have told me that Sardar Patel would have been the first prime
minister but Gandhiji perhaps felt that he would be open to the partisan charge
of favouring another gujarati”. The implication is obvious. Half-truths
are coming home to roost.

The
Narmada Control Authority(NCA) which was holding up permission to install the
sluice gates on the Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam has done a volte face and
cleared it following change of government. This implies that the denial was
political. But the rehabilitation is far from complete, as sources in MP
vehemently aver so is the approval also political? Lost in the din
of celebrations is the fact that it will take over three years to install
the gates and even at the full height of 138 metres, Gujarat will not be in a
position to benefit from the 9 MAF(million acre feet) of water that should be
irrigating 18 lakh hectares in the state. In his 13 years in power Modi
failed to build the canal network needed for the purpose and so only 1.8
lakh hectares of land is being irrigated by the Narmada waters in the state.

Meanwhile
Modi today bullishly faces the same red rag of demands that he consistently
flagged before the Manmohan Singh government, even if it is his onetime
colleague, Anandiben doing so .The list is long. Central assistance for
starting phase-1 of the Ahmedabad Metro Rail project, developing Sabarmati
station as second railway terminal, extending the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway
up to Mumbai, including Gujarat’s1,600-km long Coastal Highway as National
Highway, setting up the regional centre of National Security Guard (NSG), Coastal
Security Guards Training Centre, constructing a jetty for the coastal security
and hastening the slow pace of work on border fencing with Pakistan. The
shoe is on the other foot now and the hot seat under scrutiny.

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R.K. Misra is a field journalist with over forty years of experience working for some of the top news publications in India and abroad. Presently the Roving editor of The Free Press Journal of Mumbai, he is also the State Correspondent of the New York based international news agency, Associated Press (AP), news dailies Hitavada of Nagpur, Daily Post of Chandigarh and Outlook magazine of Delhi , to name a few. Beginning his professional career with The Times of India in Ahmedabad, he has worked as Senior Assistant Editor with Probe India and it’s sister hindi publication ‘Maya’ in Delhi and as Special Correspondent and later Roving Editor of The Pioneer and the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS). Specialising in cross-country coverage of conflict areas like Punjab and Kashmir at the height of militancy , he has also done stints for the Gulf News of Dubai and the Arab News of Saudi Arabia besides the Tribune of Chandigarh, and Vijay Times of Bangalore. His specialization, however remains, Gujarat. He is presently based in Gandhinagar, the state capital of Gujarat.